France, social portrait2016 Edition

France, Social Portrait
is for everyone who would like to learn more about French society. This cross-cutting
publication in the “Insee Références” collection throws the spotlight on young people
in France. Three reports provide an in-depth analysis of different aspects of French
society. Around forty themed information sheets summarise the main data and provide
European comparisons, to complete this social panorama.

Themed information sheets

Juvenile delinquency changes with age, as does the criminal justice system’s response

Thierry Mainaud

Young people aged 10 to 24 are particularly involved in criminal cases dealt with
by the courts: they represent 21% of those over the age of 10 but 36% of presumed
perpetrators of criminal offences. In 2014, these young people involved with the justice
system represented 5.2% of their age group.

Theft and handling stolen goods (25%) and drug offences (17%) are the two main types
of offence involving young people, followed by deliberate assaults (15%) and road
traffic offences (15%).

For each offence, the numbers of perpetrators peak at a certain age: sexual attacks
are more common at 14, theft and violence at 16, drug offences at 18 and road traffic
offences at 22. Thus the structure of offences changes with age, becoming more diverse
and with a growing proportion of road traffic offences.

While the change in offences is gradual, the response of the criminal justice system
changes radically at the age of 18 when young people switch into the adult system.
On the one hand, there are fewer alternative procedures for young adults than for
minors (44% and 63% of the response of the criminal justice system respectively).
On the other hand, prison sentences (not suspended) are more common for adults, while
educational measures, which are only available to minors and which are the predominant
sanction, give way to fines.

Juvenile delinquency is not a marginal phenomenon: 21% of men and 3% of women of the
generations born in 1986 and 1987 have been sentenced at least once for offences committed
between the ages of 10 and 24.